A 30 million dollar grant has been provided by the National Football League to fund a study of sport related brain damage. Americans have long known that football isn't the safest sport, in fact many studies have already shown that repeated mild head injuries, common in this sport, can lead to long-term brain damage. According to the article, "autopsies have shown that the brains of several former football players
have characteristics similar to those of people suffering from
degenerative brain diseases..."
So the question is why do millions of Americans support a game that can seriously damage the players? Well, for the same reason Suzanne in the Robbins reading using lawn chemicals despite the fact they make her dog's feet bleed. The ideology of hegemony is the power to turn enforcement into something
that appears to happen ‘spontaneously’ and with consent of subject, or is
something inevitable and part of culture. By making football such an integral part of culture, the industry has shielded itself from any questioning of whether the sport should be practiced due to its injury rate.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443589304577633973062347962.html
Mina, this is great. Good extension of hegemony from Lawn People to football, and football is a great example of the regulation of bodies, or lack thereof - with most people, if an activity did bodily harm to most practitioners, there would be critique, but there is tacit approval of this (masculine) use of bodies, which, ironically, leaves football players and other athletes without a lot of the protections offered to other people.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting! I've always asked in high school why our soccer team who were division champions for the last 2 years played extensive home games for ghost fans and nearly empty cold bleachers, but when our football team played (who from pre-season to the last game proudly held the record of losing by at least 30 to 50 points…yes sometimes we had 0) were cheered on by spirited fans, cheerleaders, teens with numbers on their faces, parents with blow horns, and even the principals sons-- all filling the bleachers, the stadium, and even the parking lot! At these games, all of a sudden, we were all united! Not to mention homecoming and the rituals coupled with that. If someone happened to ask “hey did you see the boys soccer game last night, they were beast!?” the comment was often equated with a “uuuhhhh, you went to the soccer game? That’s nice.” Football is so well accepted that it’s more popular to go to a football game then it was the go to a soccer game at my school. It was much “cooler.”
ReplyDeleteI agree with the ideology of hegemony. It’s as if it is common sense to know about football. I am really curious if American Football came first or Rugby. We have countered so many “old world” traditions so is American football another attempt to distinguish our identity from the “old World” where rugby is played? I don't know, just an idea.
I read somewhere that sports that are more female preferred are not very popular as those that are male preferred. (I tried really hard to find the article again and I couldn’t find the article, but I did find this one: http://www.gallup.com/poll/1786/more-americans-fans-pro-football-than-any-other-sport.aspx )
Perhaps it was once said that an American sport should certainly be of what America is. The character of an American has always been rugged, hardworking, masculine etc…, and when an event occurred that questioned this ruggedness (i.e. closing of frontier) we've always found an outlet for the anxiety like annexing other countries or being responsible for giving the world a “bad ass” sport that is played by American men who are clearly very tough, rugged, and exceptionally masculine…just like our country is, or supposed to be.